One Good Movie - Wisco

Hi friend,

I love Wisconsin.

It might be my favorite state.

Sorry Wyoming.

Minnesota is known as “The Land of 10,000 Lakes,” but Wisconsin has 15,000.

Suck on that Lake Wobegon!

Last week, I helped teach a class on narrative filmmaking at the University of Wisconsin in Stevens Point.

My old uni pal is a professor there.

It was a delight to catch up and share practical knowledge and business realities with media students.

When I made the scenic drive up, I was reminded of a classic Wisconsin film by one of the world’s great living filmmakers.

There’s a unique quality to driving from the border towns of Illinois to Central Wisconsin. The rolling farmland deepens and the trees grow tall as you reach the edge of the North Woods.

What once was the homeland of the Menominee, echoes the past. You sense that people still farm the land, hunt and fish, and shelter in for long winter nights.

Funny enough, the film on my mind came up in class unprovoked.

Stroszek

Bruno, a street performer and drunk, leaves prison and befriends Eva, a prostitute.

To escape their bleak lives, they decide to move from Germany to Wisconsin.

Yes, this is a Werner Herzog film.

Yes, it’s funny.

Yes, it’s tragic.

Just like Wisconsin.

116 minutes.

-Guy

Epilogue

Part of Stroszek was filmed in Plainfield, Wisconsin.

From Wikipedia: “Herzog had planned to meet documentary filmmaker Errol Morris in Plainfield to dig up the grave of infamous killer and body snatcher Ed Gein's mother, but Morris never showed.”

España

I returned to Barcelona on Tuesday after several months in the States. I brought back a bottle of French’s Yellow Mustard (Spain adds sugar to their mustard) and six kilograms of additional body weight.

Though my daily diet of Culver’s and Coors didn’t help, I also found myself more sedentary in the U.S.

In Spain, I have four grocery stores and a market within a few minutes walk.

In the U.S. I have to drive to the store.

My hope is to get back down to fighting weight by Thanksgiving. But Spanish wine and cheese remain everpresent.

I already miss Wisconsin fish fry.